Category Archives: Hospitals & Asylums

The Partially abandoned Salve Mater Hospital was a psychiatric hospital which catered specifically for women. The complex opened in 1927 and was established by the Sisters of Mercy. The Main administration building closed in 1997. The final patients left hospital in 2007 which left the remaining buildings unoccupied…

This abandoned Sanatorium goes by many names, Le Sanatorium d’Aincourt, aka Fleurs de Ruine aka Sanatorium du Vexin and lies crumbling in a forest of pine trees next to a new development which rendered the old sanatoriums redundant…

The Last of the great Asylums in the United Kingdom to close its doors I believe in 2012. The now abandoned site is quite large and on a scale similar to that of some of the other big asylums in the UK. Due to it being one of the last to close the interior was unsurprisingly very modern and bare with most of the equipment I suspect being moved to functioning hospital and care home facilities shortly after closure.

Birkwood Asylum dates from the 1860’s and closed in 2002. The most attractive of the buildings and the feature of this report is the old Birkwood House which was constructed in 1819 and was a stately home until the 1860’s when an additional wing was added and the Asylum established. Many additional buildings were added over the years within the grounds which are all now crumbling and falling apart while the old stone built stately home remains!

An old abandoned geriatric Hospital which was previously a sanatorium built in 1957 and functioned for the majority of its history as a hospital for retired and elderly people, this now trashed building still contains lots of wheelchairs a reminder of what the place once was. Shortly before its closure it was been replaced by a newer building which sits directly opposite this now burnt out concrete shell of a site…

Briefly Severalls Lunatic Asylum aka The Second Essex County Asylum aka Severalls Hospital was built in 1910 and opened in 1913. At its peak the Asylum could house 2000 patients making it one of the largest in the country. Based upon the Echelon Asylum Plan Severalls has become well known for its spiralling Corridors which connect various buildings and the vast amount of bay windows within the wards.

One of the Asylums which I unfortunately missed when it was in its prime. the derelict St Mary’s Hospital aka Gateshead Borough Asylum is now stripped bare and is an active building site. Very little remains of what was once left behind at this place.